Be Yourself, It’s Always The Best Way To Go

Was there ever a time when you thought you had to do more just to get noticed? You’d put on antics, pretend to be someone you’re not, and self praise one too many times when all you had to do was just be yourself.

I want to share with you my favorite Glee scene, which begins just after the Glee cast performed an obnoxious hair waving routine for the opposing team. The video reminds us that simplicity, accompanied by genuineness triumphs always.

This site won’t be all things to all people. If it was, we’d lose our authenticity. Thanks for joining our community!

Readers, ever catch yourself doing something that wasn’t you? Why do you think you were doing that unusual thing, and why is it so hard to just be ourselves sometimes?

Sam started Financial Samurai in 2009 during the depths of the financial crisis as a way to make sense of chaos. After 13 years working on Wall Street, Sam decided to retire in 2012 to utilize everything he learned in business school to focus on online entrepreneurship. Sam focuses on helping readers build more income in real estate, investing, entrepreneurship, and alternative investments in order to achieve financial independence sooner, rather than later.

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Comments

Perhaps the only true consolation of growing older is you become more comfortable with yourself, more confident to be yourself, and far less concerned with what other people think.

I was never that bothered about what other people thought about me and have never gone along with the in-crowd, but sometimes I used to think it was my problem. Then for a while I thought it was their problem, whereas now I know it’s almost never a problem in the grand scheme of things.

Agreed. Don’t spend energy on becoming something you’re not. Spend energy on improving areas of your life and be confident in being yourself! .-= 20smoney´s last blog ..Is The Stock Market Bottom Still To Come? =-.

@Monevator You make a good point about how we see things when we get older. Middle school and High School is often times rough for many of us in the US, b/c we needed to be popular and fit in. As older adults, it’s fun to look back and laugh at that time period. Now, we just do whatever we want and it feels great. Although, maybe not all of us, and hence the saying of “keeping up with the Joneses”.

@20smoney Confidence is something that not everybody is blessed with. It would be great if we all developed this feeling of fortitude. BTW, no way is the stock market going back to last March’s lows!

It’s hard to be yourself for the best of reasons. We love other people and we want to make them happy. So we do stuff that we sense makes them happy, even though it represents a denial of our true selves.

I agree that we need to be ourselves. But pleasing others is part of what most of us are. So the real trick is finding a balance between our individualism and our desire for friendship and community closeness to others.

Can’t watch the video at work, but I get the gist of your question. I find myself acting uncharacteristically based on the situation, but never to get attention. My natural tendency is to be like Monevator and do whatever the in-crowd isn’t doing. When I find myself doing that unusual thing its because I’m trying to play a role, like if I’m in uniform and had to counsel someone I’d be playing The Major, whereas if I was in the same situation as a civilian I would probably have handled the situation completely differently. Frankly, I think it’s exhausting trying to be someone you’re not.

Thanks for sharing this Sam! It’s a great show, and amazing how it’s able to attract a wide range of audiences. That’s my favorite clip as well.

Maybe we’re all actors on a world stage. We need to do things that isn’t us, b/c we recognize the means to the end is just the means. If our goal is to retire earlier than normal, it’s OK to pretend enjoying the job you hate doing because you don’t lose site of the end. I think that’s why. .-= The Genius´s last blog ..Three W&M students unharmed in Haiti =-.

It’s part of our genetic makeup. We are inherently social creatures and want to be liked by others. IMHO the beauty of the Internet it has made it much easier to find people of similar interest and bond with them. Lets say you like croshaying in the nude, I’m sure there is a forum out there that discusses this.

Group think is something that can be a big issue. Could be said one of the reasons for the housing and dot-bomb bubble. .-= Investor Junkie´s last blog ..Weekend Reading for January 16, 2010 =-.

I think that this is great advice for a personal blog as well because unless you run a corporate blog or a news blog then your goal shouldn’t be to try and please everyone and stay neutral on everything but to speak your mind and take a side no matter how controversial. Which you are definitely not afraid to do and that is something that I definitely like about this blog! :) – Joel .-= Credit Card Chaser´s last blog ..Are Credit Card Companies Evil if They Don’t Waive Fees on Haiti Donations? =-.

@admin Hehe.. I’m not saying we’re going back to last March’s lows! Altho there is a part of me that thinks so. The other part says, hey, if you print enough money, we can get this thing to Dow 20k by end of year! :) .-= 20smoney´s last blog ..Important Reads – Jan 18, 2010 =-.

@Matt S. Glad the post/video cheered you up. The video actually makes me sad with happiness, if that makes sense.

@20smoney That would be a good bet. Do we go to Dow 20K first or Dow 6,500 first? I venture to guess 20K first, but it may take 20 years!

@Tracy Thanks Tracy. Nice Gravatar pic! You have a little bit of Sarah Palin going on. I’m typing on a 12″ monitor, so I could be wrong :)

@Credit Card Chaser I think advertisers and affiliate business really sways some writers. I’m playing around with the various ad platforms now, and it is VERY eye-opening the various offers out there. I can see why some continue to focus on one product or another. I’ll be posting something on Advertising soon enough. I’m motivated to make some money for someone more deserving.

I admit I’m hooked to Glee myself – that’s a really moving part of that episode. Thanks for sharing it! Being “yourself” isn’t always easy but once you can, it’s such an incredible thing. I remember how bad middle/high school can be and how awful some people were to classmates that were different. Sometimes I think kids can be harsher than adults and I’m just glad to have that stage of life done for. I empathize for the kids going through it now.

OMG…Sarah Palin?! Really?! Glad I changed it then….that is me, but I am at work and no, not as a hockey mom Alaskan governor. And I can’t imagine a scenario where I would run for public office, so I guess Tina Fey won’t ever play me on SNL. Rats…

I agree that you should always be true to yourself. But also, everything you do becomes a part of who you are, whether you believe what you do fits your character or not. I’d like to believe my true character doesn’t include some of the bad choices I’ve made, but even making those mistakes has helped formed who I am at this very moment, a sum of my experiences. .-= Flexo´s last blog ..U.S. Mint: Making Money By Making Money =-.

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